what's the best oil for new gunwales? Teak? Tung? Also

[roaring-riverman]

looking for best way to treat them before installing. I remember someone posting something somewhere about using a pvc pipe and putting wood and oil inside and sealing it. Sounds interesting. Should they be thoroughly soaked, then wiped dry? I have lots of experience with Watco Danish oil for interior wood projects and have flooded the wood, waited a half hr or so, then wiped dry. Waited 24 hrs and repeated. Then the same thing again. Would this be the same?

[djutzi]

I've been advised in the past that tung oil is the way to go.

Do a bunch of coats, 5+. Put it on with a rag, let it dry for 15 minutes, than rub it in with your bare hand, warming the wood up a bit in the process.

Not sure about the PVC pipe method, but imagine it wouldn't hurt.

[DougB]

I've tried a variety of combinations but my experience is that double boiled linseed oil cut with varsol at about a 60/40 ratio works best. For initial treatment apply 3 coats with a rag and reapply a coat at the start/end of each season

[horizongfx]

It's what all the Kewl Kids are using these days
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200559 ... Quart.aspx
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[kaz]

Try scrolling down several threads. It's been discussed before.

JKaz

[Al Donaldson]

Folks:

I stayed out of the discussion last time, but, since it has come up again:

1) Most of the commercially available finishes that are marked "Tung Oil" should be marked (IMHO) "Tung Oil Lite," including Watco and Formby's. They are typically made up with some tung oil, but also have solvents and other oils.

2) I have found one outfit that does merchandise pure tung oil (Please don't laugh too loudly at the name of the outfit...):
http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html

3) Tung oil does need some solvent for the first coats to allow it to soak into the wood, but the solvent is just wasted on later coats, and will make the task take longer, as you'll need to apply more coats.

4) The same outfit offers a really good solvent (Citrus Solvent).
http://www.realmilkpaint.com/citrus.html
That stuff can be mixed in with the tung oil for the first coats and is not needed for the later ones.

5) As an added benefit, a mix of 1/4 tung oil and 3/4 citrus solvent makes the finest furniture polish in the world and is great for cutting boards, wooden knife handles and paddle spot polishing.

6) I have tried the "soak" method for canoe seat posts, but it does not work as well as the good old "many light coats with time and polishing in between" method.

I hope this is useful to somebody.

Regards,

al